Montpellier

[Matthew Grant]

Can anybody recommend Bistro or Brasseries in Montpellier or Cermont Ferrand?

[grahamtigg]

In Montpellier I would suggest Anis et Canisses (47 Avenue de Toulouse, 04 67 60 59 37) as somewhere different - a small family run bistro serving Catalan dishes and great fun. The downside is that it's a mile south of the center (i.e. from the Place de Comedie/station area) but the busses are easy if you don't fancy walking or a taxi.

Otherwise wander around the old town and follow your nose for some al fresco dining. Mosaïque 21 rue Vallat 04 67 60 77 23 was good and simple a couple of years ago and they have tables in the square.

If you want somewhere at the michelin star level then go for Cellier-Morel at La Maison de la Lozère 27 Rue de l'Aiguillerie.

What happens between Montpellier and Clermont Ferrand?

[Matthew Grant]

What happens between Montpellier and Clermont Ferrand?

Michel Bras

[therese]

[This post originally posted in somewhat different form elsewhere, but I've foregone a link in favor of the full text]

So, spent the last two weeks in France, the first at a seawater spa (something called thalassotherapy) on the coast, the second at a conference in Montpellier.

Port-Camargue is all new construction, basically an enormous marina for leisure boaters, with the quais interlaced with condos. A bit disorienting and monotonous, with no real town center. My hotel (a Mercure, not quite as nice as Mercure generally are but acceptable) was directly on the beach and directly linked to the thalassotherapy center. Thalasso is very relaxing---you spend about half of each day getting sprayed, pummeled, wrapped, and bathed in various combinations of seawater and oils and algae. The rest of the time you hang out and wait for the next meal.

Guests usually do demi-pension, which includes breakfast (enormous buffet, including scrambled eggs and bacon as well as soft boiled egg you make yourself, croissants, fruit, yogurt, etc.,). You can choose either dinner or lunch as your other included meal, and the menu is the same for both, posted very early each day in the elevator so that you make plans. You choose from two or three choices of appetizer, main dish, and dessert that change each day, or you can pick certain items off the standard menu (which doesn't change).

If you do pension complete (all three meals included) you have the option of dietetic meals. Very light, caloric values listed on the menu. I might choose this option next time, as the regular items tend to be fairly filling.

All of the meals I had at the hotel were fine by French standards, by which I mean that they were fantastic compared to average U.S. restaurant meals (and stunningly good compared to U.S. hotel meals) but not quite up to the standards we've grown to expect from our local Atlanta restos. The restaurant's located on the sixth (top) floor of the restaurant and pretty much entirely windows, so stunning views over the gulf---so bright during early dinner hours that many diners wear sunglasses.

The hotel offered daily shuttles to points of interest in the area, and so I went to Le Grau du Roi twice, and Aigues Mortes once.

Le Grau du Roi is an old fishing town that's now also a beach town that fills up early with lower middle class French. We had great weather, so there were a lot of local daytrippers. Anybody who'd like to observe directly the effect of vastly "improved" standard of living on health need only visit Le Grau du Roi to see that hours in front of TV and computer screens coupled with snacking, and reduced walking and biking will make anybody fat. The French have never been different, they've just been relatively poor until recently. They're also now two generations beyond WWII, so the effects of near-famine have been washed out of the younger, with the expected effects.

The 60th anniversary of D-Day is approaching, by the way, and the press is full of nostalgia, very positive view of Americans. Not the slightest hint of anti-American sentiment anywhere I went, and a great deal of empathy, as the French are having a great deal of difficulty with their colonial pasts in Muslim countries.

Anyway, back to food. I had one restaurant meal in Le Grau du Roi, the first day I arrived. I'd walked from Port Camargue (it's about an hour), so decided on an actual meal instead of snack. I chose a big busy place on the main walking street called Va Bene that featured an 11 euro menu (appetizer, main, side dish, and dessert). Yep, very cheap, and very busy. Some of the dishes I didn't recognize, so in my usual retiring manner I turned to the people at the table next to me (who happened to work in the nearby Haribo candy factory) and asked for some descriptions. They were happy to help, and I ended up getting bulots (sea snails, cooked in the shell and served with mayonnaise), some sort of squid/cuttlefish stuffed with a sort of spicy fish meatloaf (can't remember the name---it's a local classic), green salad, and apple pie. Including a muscat aperitif, a half carafe of wine, and coffee the whole tab came to...hmmm, can't find the receipt, but it wasn't very much.

Later in the week I checked out the market at Le Grau du Roi. Lots of great cheeses and sausages that they're happy for you to try---I got youngish chevre and duck and pork sausage. Strawberries and cherries were both coming in, so I got some of both. Beautiful baby radishes. Young garlic was also just in, but I didn't have anything to do with it so skipped that. Found a good bakery near the post office (pick up point for the shuttle), home in time for lunch on my terrace overlooking the beach. Dry cider (in corked bottles, like champagne) completed my meal.

Another shuttle trip was to Aigues-Mortes. Very cool town that was originally built as a departure point for the crusades, and later served as a prison for protestants. Entirely walled, and you can walk along the ramparts and get fantastic views of the surrounding countryside, including big mountains of sea salt collected by the La Baleine company. The market there was outside the town walls and either not nearly so nice food-wise as Le Grau du Roi's or I managed to miss that part. I bought savoury pastries from a young woman: fougasse (the savoury version is mille-feuille, while the sweet is more like a coffee cake), tielle (sort of a covered tart filled with fish and vegetables), and something else I can't remember. More dry cider, another lovely lunch on the terrace reading (Henry Miller's "Tropic of Capricorn" was just perfect).

Finally, my week of thalasso finished, it was time to go to Montpellier. The hotel offered a shuttle to either the airport or train station, but as I was the only person taking it that day they drove me directly to my hotel, a bit of a feat since I didn't know how to get to it by car (having assumed I'd be using a local taxi from the train station) and the driver wasn't familiar with Montpellier. But we managed, happy good-byes all around.

So, week two. The meeting's in Montpellier because it's an easy place to get to (direct flights from Paris, TGV connection right from Charles de Gaulle, etc.) and has a terrific meeting facility called Le Corum. There's a new tramway that makes getting around town a breeze (11.20 euros for 7 days unlimited use), and a very cool old town that's mostly pedestrian so very people-friendly. Very dog friendly as well, so don't forget to look where you're walking.

But the food is generally not all that fantastic. I have this theory that places with great weather (Montpellier is sort of a cross between San Diego and Atlanta weather-wise) and large numbers of transient business sorts just don't need great restaurants, because people show up anyway and they have to eat.

Food at Le Corum was quite good, exceptionally good considering that it was basically a conference center. Buffets featured particularly amazing cheeses (after, of course, all sorts of other good stuff) and decent wines.

The best meal of the week was the most expensive, dinner at a place called La Maison de la Lozere. Two menus offered, the less expensive at 44 euros. Three named courses, with an amuse and cheese and mignardises as well. I was with five Americans, most of them absolutely petrified by the elegant (but relaxed) atmosphere. My suggestion that we have a cocktail was greated with the sort of enthusiasm usually seen in laboring women asked if they'd like an enema.

But the staff was charming and accomodating (and about as anglophone as French service people get), and eventually we managed to get some wine into them and dinner ordered.

Amuse presented in a tall shot glass a la Blais (a fantastic but recently defunct restaurant here in Atlanta), a melon ball at the bottom, then a cherry tomato stuffed with soft herbed cheese and something else on top of that.

My first was tuna carpaccio, served with all sorts of groovy extra bits like fava beans.

My second was duck, beautifully scored and seared, served with a thin waffle that had been rolled around something cheesy and topped with mushrooms.

All of the main dishes are accompanied by something called aligot, a very cool dish of mashed potatoes and cheese (and cream and butter and garlic, of course). In order to get the correct texture, the potatoes are pureed to within an inch of their lives, the cheese (fresh tomme) added, and then the whole thing "worked" (sort of like making salt water taffy) until it's like velvet. The final "working" occurs tableside, with the server spiraling a strand into each diner's waiting side dish.

Cheese next, as much as you want of the usual fantastic assortment. I had Epoisses and a couple of other things I can't remember now. Ask for small pieces unless you really want a lot.

My dessert was pineapple that had been layered in a glass with blood orange on the bottom, some sort of sorbet, etc.

Five different sorts of mignardises, including caramel with fleur du sel and really lovely pistachio sandwich meringue.

Coffee (not included in the prix fixe) comes with a nice little chocolate pot de creme. I managed to eat half.

Very reasonably-priced wines, and when you realize that the service and tip are already include in the 44 euros it's quite a deal.

So, looking forward to my next trip. Found a great hotel (Hotel du Parc) should any of you be headed to Montpellier any time soon.

[Bux]

Thanks for that post. We know Montpellier from several visits.

Port-Camargue is all new construction, basically an enormous marina for leisure boaters, with the quais interlaced with condos. A bit disorienting and monotonous, with no real town center.

That end of the Mediterannean is full of new towns that serve to provide summer places. they're not my cup of tea, but we've spent a night or two in one or the other of them. In spite of the placelessness of them, they can offer a sense of town. One weekend night we happened to find ourselves in one, I think it may have been Narbonne-Plage, the beach town that sprung up east of Narbonne. There was a portable band stand and a local band on a wide plaza in the cement walk adjacent to the beach. Everyone was out dancing and I mean everyone. Teens were as amorous as one could be in a public plaza and there were the older couples as well as kids dancing with their grandmothers. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting of a small town on the fourth of July. Traveling fairs with rides and amusements also make the rounds. The reality is not always as hard as it appears, but I miss the quaint fishing villages.

Dry cider (in corked bottles, like champagne)

Good stuff. Generally from Normandy or Brittany.

The hotel offered a shuttle to either the airport or train station, but as I was the only person taking it that day they drove me directly to my hotel, a bit of a feat since I didn't know how to get to it by car (having assumed I'd be using a local taxi from the train station) and the driver wasn't familiar with Montpellier.

Montpellier, as you've mentioned, can be a delightful place for the pedestrian, but a nightmare for the driver. We once rented a car at the railway station and asked for directions to our hotel, downtown and not far away. After much staff discussion, the general agreement was that I couldn't get there from where we were. There's an area where the new and the old collide for which it's almost impossible to draw a map. There are streets and roads crossing each other at several levels. The pedestrian access to our hotel was on new extension to the old pedestrian plaza, but the drive-up entrance was on the ramp out of the parking lot. It was only after driving around and around and taking the entrance to the underground parking lot by mistake and then making a quick exit that we found the "front" entrance to the hotel. In spite of all that, we rather like Montpellier.

But the food is generally not all that fantastic. I have this theory that places with great weather (Montpellier is sort of a cross between San Diego and Atlanta weather-wise) and large numbers of transient business sorts just don't need great restaurants, because people show up anyway and they have to eat.

...

The best meal of the week was the most expensive, dinner at a place called La Maison de la Lozere. Two menus offered, the less expensive at 44 euros.

We've eaten well at the three star Jardin des Sens, in Montpellier, when it was a two star restaurant, but have been hearing mixed reviews since our last meal there. I don't quite understand how I could be hearing such reviews while the restaurant continues to hold its rating. Friends who live in the region, actually just north of Béziers, just wrote: can report that we finally had an excellent resto meal, at Cellier-Morel (Maison de la Lozere) in Montpellier. It was for S's birthday lunch, and we ate outdoors in the lovely courtyard, and the food was amazingly good. We drank 2 super wines: a Mas de Daumas Gassac  Blanc, and a Peuch-Haut (Pic St-Loup) red.

Amuse presented in a tall shot glass a la Blais (a fantastic but recently defunct restaurant here in Atlanta), So, looking forward to my next trip. Found a great hotel (Hotel du Parc) should any of you be headed to Montpellier any time soon.

The Hotel du Parc seems to be a distance from the center of town. Would one need a car? I was sorry to hear that Blais closed. From what I've read on eGullet, it seemed very interesting, but the tall shot glass presentation has been around for quite some time before it appeared at Blais.

[therese]

That end of the Mediterannean is full of new towns that serve to provide summer places. they're not my cup of tea, but we've spent a night or two in one or the other of them. In spite of the placelessness of them, they can offer a sense of town.

The last time I did a thalassotherapy spa I stayed in La Grande Motte, the ultimate in purpose-built French resorts. Distinctive "pyramidal" architecture that looks interesting from a distance (say, from the rooftop restaurant of the Mercure in Port-Camargue), weird and intimidating from the sidewalk. The thalasso hotel in La Grande Motte is actually pretty nice, built a bit later so not quite so weird. And the French national soccer team happened to have booked a stay there the week I was in Montpellier, and played an exhibition match.

The French are generally huge fans of a get-together of any sort, and the dancing and make-out sessions are all part of the general joie de vivre. My first sojourn in France was at age 17, in Normandy (where I developed a taste for cidre and public make-out sessions). I lived with a family and attended lycee in Deauville. Talk about your purpose-built French resorts...

Montpellier, as you've mentioned, can be a delightful place for the pedestrian, but a nightmare for the driver. We once rented a car at the railway station and asked for directions to our hotel, downtown and not far away. After much staff discussion, the general agreement was that I couldn't get there from where we were. There's an area where the new and the old collide for which it's almost impossible to draw a map. There are streets and roads crossing each other at several levels.

This was my third trip to Montpellier, and of course I've never bothered to rent a car (because I'm there for work). But having been in taxis and cars of friends (locals, even) it was clear that Montpellier's not exactly laid out on a grid, and the central pedestrian zone represents a void if one happens to be in a car. It was particularly bad about the time of the tramway construction, and they're getting ready to start construction on a second line (orange cars instead of blue this time), so it will be all the worse. So just avoid the car entirely. The tramway's convenient, clean, and inexpensive.

The newer hotels (Sofitel, Astron, etc.) are located in the new fancy Antigone areas, and I find them all particularly disorienting. Again, the scale is too large. They're at least well served by the tramway now.

The Hotel du Parc seems to be a distance from the center of town. Would one need a car?

No, one would very expressly not need a car. It's actually just a block or two outside the old town wall (over near the Jardin des Plantes side of things) and a short 1.5 block stroll from the Albert 1er stop on the tramway (third stop up from the Place de la Comedie, less than 5 minutes). As my meeting was at Le Corum I could either go two stops on the tramway or walk (a bit less than 10 minutes), a decision I generally made based on the sort of shoes I'd worn that day. The old town is particularly steep on that side, so a walk directly to the center (rather than around the periphery) is instantly aerobic.

On the other hand, if you did happen to have rented a car for day trips, the Hotel du Parc would also serve, as it has its own private parking lot (small, traditional pale tan pea gravel that my little old-fashioned terrace overlooked). Much easier to access than Sofitel, etc. as it's on a small road right off the ring road (whose name changes every 0.5 kilometer, it seems) that runs right around the old town, and marked with those skinny brown signs that indicate hotels in French towns. As I said, my general knowledge of its location and the skinny brown signs were sufficient to guide the shuttle chauffeur right to it.

The hotel itself is older, basically a rehabbed mansion (very recently rehabbed---plumbing all excellent, for instance). I stayed in a smaller room with only a shower (58 euros/night), but there are larger rooms that include large bathrooms and sitting areas. Elegantly decorated, very pleasant staff---more of an inn than a hotel.

Glad to hear that somebody else found La Maison de la Lozere nice. We were also in the courtyard, a pretty little cube topped by a lovely square of sky. Far and away the best I've had in Montpellier, though certainly still not exceptional by Atlanta standards. I didn't bother with Le Jardin des Sens, as even the low end menu is now well into the 100+ euro range, and I can eat quite as well, thank you, in my own back yard for less. My next trip I may sweet talk some deep-pockets European vendor into springing for dinner there, but otherwise I'm not likely to go to the trouble.

The other not too bad meal I had during the Montpellier stay was in Lattes, about halfway between Montpellier and the coast. "Ariane" something or other. A bistro-esque place, new construction on the ground floor of yet another boating resort.

I was sorry to hear that Blais closed. From what I've read on eGullet, it seemed very interesting, but the tall shot glass presentation has been around for quite some time before it appeared at Blais.

The reference to Blais was directed at the original audience for this post (Atlantans). By no means original to him, but he used the tall shotglasses so frequently that it was a bit of signature.

[Bux]

The French are generally huge fans of a get-together of any sort, and the dancing and make-out sessions are all part of the general joie de vivre.

From time to time we get caught up in those large town parties when we visit our friends who live near Béziers. These are parties in the town squares where they set up tables and benches and there is much food and wine and music. Neither the food, nor the wine, nor even the music is very good, but the joie de vivre is first class.

This was my third trip to Montpellier, and of course I've never bothered to rent a car (because I'm there for work). But having been in taxis and cars of friends (locals, even) it was clear that Montpellier's not exactly laid out on a grid, and the central pedestrian zone represents a void if one happens to be in a car. It was particularly bad about the time of the tramway construction, and they're getting ready to start construction on a second line (orange cars instead of blue this time), so it will be all the worse. So just avoid the car entirely. The tramway's convenient, clean, and inexpensive.

Montpellier is where we've often picked up our car to set out to visit our friends.

The newer hotels (Sofitel, Astron, etc.) are located in the new fancy Antigone areas, and I find them all particularly disorienting. Again, the scale is too large. They're at least well served by the tramway now.

The Triangle, is the area adjacent to the place de la Comédie and I've described the way in which it meets the older city as an abrupt collision, something on the order of a trainwreck. Admittedly, trainwrecks have an element of morbid fascination. Anyway, that's precisely where our hotel was. It's a hotel that's changed hands and names several times since.

"Disorienting" is an understatement, but having spent my earlier years searching for, and demanding, the tradional and the quaint, I now find I have some fascination for the way Europeans have lept into the future quite blind it seems, to the mistakes we've made. Being disoriented is also one of the fascinations of travel.

I stayed in a smaller room with only a shower

At risk of sounding like one who enjoys stereotyping, I have to say that Europeans love baths, while Americans prefer a shower. I have a hard time convincing innkeepers and deskclerks that I really prefer a room with a shower to one with a bath, especially in France where there's often never been a "proper" shower curtain. Things are better these days, or I'm staying in more luxurious digs, and I'm finding better protection against flooding the bathroom floor while I shower.

I've not had the pleasure of spending time in Atlanta, so I can't comment on the relative merits of its restaurants or how they might compare to those in Montpellier, but I am hooked on trying not only local food as I travel, but sampling the creative work of those chefs who have made an international reputation for themselves. it's not so much a matter of the food being better or worse than back home, but of having the opportunity to enjoy that unique restaurant. I suppose it's a hobby and it's become a good part of the reason I bother to travel at all. In many French cities, the best restaurant in town is the reason to visit.

[therese]

The Triangle, is the area adjacent to the place de la Comédie and I've described the way in which it meets the older city as an abrupt collision, something on the order of a trainwreck. Admittedly, trainwrecks have an element of morbid fascination. Anyway, that's precisely where our hotel was. It's a hotel that's changed hands and names several times since.

Yes, the Triangle is a seriously screwed up little area of shops. The idea of trying to reach anything by car there (seems like there's a Citadines and/or an Ibis in there somewhere, plus you walk through there to get back to the Sofitel) is actually pretty funny.

The Hotel du Parc ranks very high on the "traditional and quaint" meter, but without sacrificing modern conveniences. The shower in question had excellent water pressure and spray pattern, abundant hot water, and a shower curtain that wrapped all the way around the two exposed walls. But tight quarters nonetheless (and I'm not a giant person, possibly the reason I was given this room) and I sat on the toilet to shave my legs.

I usually get a bathtub in Europe precisely because they do bathtubs better than they do showers. And the hand-held shower thingy works just fine.

I've not had the pleasure of spending time in Atlanta, so I can't comment on the relative merits of its restaurants or how they might compare to those in Montpellier, but I am hooked on trying not only local food as I travel, but sampling the creative work of those chefs who have made an international reputation for themselves. it's not so much a matter of the food being better or worse than back home, but of having the opportunity to enjoy that unique restaurant. I suppose it's a hobby and it's become a good part of the reason I bother to travel at all. In many French cities, the best restaurant in town is the reason to visit.

Well, having eaten in an embarrassingly large number of restaurants of all sorts in both Montpellier (and environs) and Atlanta, I'm more likely to spin the dining wheel in Atlanta. I've had a difficult time finding really good food in Montpellier, in spite of advance inquiries and local expertise. All the local talent may well reside in a single restaurant (Le Jardin des Sens), but that's a bit depressing. I did have a nice meal a few years ago at Fabrice Guilleux (I think that was the name), but I'm not sure that's even still open. La Diligence, Le Chandelier, and Le Petit Jardin all disappointing.

If you do end up in Atlanta do plan ahead, as some of the best places require considerable advance booking. Lots of interesting food adventures to be had, none of them involving barbecue, so don't come looking for it.

[Gabrielle Claudine]

A friend would like to join eGullet but cannot do it due to the revamping of the site. So, I'm enquiring for her and her daughter: where to find inventive restaurants/bistros and suggestions for things to do in Montpellier and the surrounding area.

[Bux]

A friend would like to join eGullet but cannot do it due to the revamping of the site.  So, I'm enquiring for her and her daughter:  where to find inventive restaurants/bistros and suggestions for things to do in Montpellier and the surrounding area.

←

First, I apologize for current, and we trust short lived freeze and hope your friend is able to log on and post soon enough. Montpellier has a three star restaurant, Jardin des Sens, in which we've enjoyed several fine meals. However, they've all been years ago before the restaurant earned its third star. Peculiarly enough, since then, I've heard nothing but mixed reports although the restaurant has kept all three stars. Montpellier is a lively city and a university town. I've not been there long enough for a meal in a few years, although we picked up a car there at the train station last week to visit friends further south. They like Cellier Morel in Montpellier and recommend it. So, from our friend to your friend, that's our recommendation.

[Ptipois]

Le Jardin des sens is a very fine restaurant, the kitchen is held firmly by Laurent Pourcel and I've always had wonderful meals there. "Mixed reports" exist, of which I cannot say much, but I should point out that one famous French restaurant critic, during the last couple of years, has repeatedly tried to ruin the Jardin's reputation for personal reasons, without having ever had a meal there (he went there for the first time last Spring). This was not very beneficial to Le Jardin, the critic being quite a star in the medias. Some mixed reports may emanate from him, and some other mixed reports may emanate from friends of his (press solidarity, you know...).

On a more modest scale, you have the Pourcels' brasseries at La Compagnie des Comptoirs including the one on the beach at Le Grand Travers. And various nice little restaurants in the old town.

My favorite is Le Saleya, on a square close to the post office and the covered market. Booking is necessary.

[therese]

The dining scene in Montpellier is not the strongest. The best meal I've eaten there was this spring at La Maison de la Lozere. A very pleasant space with an enclosed courtyard in the old part of town. Comfortably upmarket, but no overly so, and the food a mix of very traditional and newer elements.

I've not been to Le Jardin des Sens, and a friend who has lived there for years and entertains a lot for business says she avoids it, but perhaps it's just not to her taste.

[robert brown]

Avoid the Pourcel's second restaurant at all costs. Last year I had a terrible dinner there. 'nuf said.

[Ptipois]

Avoid the Pourcel's second restaurant at all costs. Last year I had a terrible dinner there. 'nuf said.

←

Well, could you tell more about this terrible dinner? Which restaurant was it? The one in Montpellier or the beach place at Carnon?

[robert brown]

It was La Compagnie des Comptoirs in Montpellier. As the meal was entirely forgettable, I don't remember the details. In general, it had the usual shortcomings of a bistro moderne; dishes made ahead of time, very little cooked a la minute; poorly-conceived recipes; and all that goes with a mass-feeding operation. It was crowded and noisy. I felt ripped-off and ignored.

[Bux]

The dining scene in Montpellier is not the strongest. The best meal I've eaten there was this spring at La Maison de la Lozere. A very pleasant space with an enclosed courtyard in the old part of town. Comfortably upmarket, but no overly so, and the food a mix of very traditional and newer elements.

I've not been to Le Jardin des Sens, and a friend who has lived there for years and entertains a lot for business says she avoids it, but perhaps it's just not to her taste.

←

I believe La Maison de la Lozere and Cellier Morel are one and the same place. That, or Cellier Morel is in la Maison de la Lozere.

We had friends who did not enjoy le Jardin during the years we did and we enjoyed what I belive were three meals there. One was with these friends and they just didn't enjoy the food as much as we did, although we all equally enjoyed an excellent meal together in New York the week before. Tastes are very subjective.

[CyN]

We had dinner at Jardin des Sens last June. It was superb, one of the best meals I've ever had

[cigalechanta]

We'll try the Jardin next time in that area. We made the mistake of dining in the Guiganette(spellin?)The location by the water was lovely, the food forgetable.

I read a blurb in a French magazine that made it sound special.

[robert brown]

We'll try the Jardin next time in that area. We made the mistake of dining in the Guiganette(spellin?)The location by the water was lovely, the food forgetable.

I read a blurb in a French magazine that made it sound special.

←

When it comes to where to eat, don't expect anything else from French magazines.

[therese]

I believe La Maison de la Lozere and Cellier Morel are one and the same place. That, or Cellier Morel is in la Maison de la Lozere.

Apparently so. For whatever reason I'd not picked up on the other name (somebody else made the reservation) and I didn't notice signage that mentioned the other name (but then I was a bit late and a rushing).

[grahamtigg]

la Maison de la Lozere is the name of building and the restaurant used to take the same name, now it's named after the chef and sommelier. I would also recommend this as the best all round Montpellier fine dining spot.

If your friend has wheels then there are a few restaurants of note within an hour ranging from Le Mimosa in St Guiraud (north west), the simpler Chez Philippe in Marseillan and the everyday La Reffinerie in Beziers.

There are plenty of details on my personal site www.languedoc-dining.com

Graham

[Bux]

Chez Philippe in Marseillan recently changed hands. I was pleased, if not excited by my previous visit, but returned last week to the new place and although it was okay value, it was hardly worth the drive from Pezanas at any price. We actually had reservations at Caladoc in Agde, or so our friends said, but it was closed when we arrived and the people at the hotel to which it is attached could offer no more clue than the sign that offered its closing days. The day were there was not one of the posted closing days. Our friends didn't have high hopes for Ches Philippe, but by this time we just wanted to eat somewhere. Beziers might have been a better choice if it had been made earlier.